Starting 5

1. Stats. This has nothing to do with Oklahoma State, but the Texas Tech offense has gone from the 100’s to 39th overall, which is really insane considering how these things are cumulative and there was basically 2/3’s of a season already played with all of those numbers already there, to move up that much is pretty remarkable. The biggest thing with OSU is that the Cowboys just aren’t consistent. They’ll have a win and in that win, they will do one thing really well. It will be the defense one game and the offense in another. When the Pokes lose, they just have so many deficiencies.

2. Scouting. The biggest difference between OSU and other Big 12 teams is just an overall lack of players. They are running so thin at this point, I’m almost positive that the last three players listed in the top 10 players listed above are walk-ons. So they are essentially dealing with just 7 rotation players. And of the players that they have, they struggle on the offensive end of the court. Waters is a pretty good offensive player, he’s a good three-point shooter. I really like McGriff as a player, but he just doesn’t have much help.

3. How They Match Up. The last time these two teams played, it wasn’t much of a match-up. Texas Tech won by 28 or so points and it was an absolute beating in Stillwater. I should mention that the line has almost always been what the T-Rank expected win projection is, which as of right now is Texas Tech by 17.1 points with a 95% certainty of a win. So, this is a game that Texas Tech should win and a game that the Red Raiders simply cannot afford to lose.

Now, with four games left in the conference slate, No. 11 Texas Tech will look to continue to be in the fight for the title when they host Oklahoma State at 6 p.m. Wednesday at United Supermarkets Arena. The contest is scheduled to be televised on ESPNU.

“It’s just one game at a time,” Beard said Tuesday. “There’s still a lot of basketball left. We have games, some of the other teams have three. So all you can control is your next game. For us, it’s just the same thing — nothing changes. It’s all about effort, playing hard and giving ourselves a chance. And then playing well and playing together. … Our guys are excited about just competing and being relative this time of year.”

After ranking fourth in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency a year ago, Texas Tech is No. 1 in 2018-19.

In fact, according to KenPom.com, Texas Tech’s defense is college basketball’s most efficient since the 2014-15 Kentucky team. Those Wildcats began the year 38-0 before losing in the Final Four.

In conference play, Texas Tech is holding opponents to a 31.5 percent clip from 3-point range, the best in the league. It is also limiting them to 44.8 percent shooting on 2-pointers, second-best in the Big 12. And no Big 12 team forces turnovers or blocks shots as frequently as the Red Raiders.

Round 15 of 18 in the Big 12 Conference fight for No. 11 Texas Tech brings Oklahoma State to town for a 6 p.m. showdown with the Red Raiders on a five-game winning streak and a 15-1 record at the United Supermarkets Arena this season.

The Red Raiders (22-5, 10-4 Big 12) are coming off a 91-62 win over No. 15 Kansas last Saturday to improve to 6-1 at home in conference play, while Oklahoma State (10-17, 3-11 Big 12) lost 85-46 to Kansas State in its last game after a 68-61 home win over TCU. Texas Tech earned a 78-50 win over the Cowboys in the first matchup between the two teams on Feb. 13 in Stillwater, Oklahoma with Jarrett Culver leading the team with 19 points, Matt Mooney going 5-for-5 on 3-pointers and Davide Moretti recording a career-high eight assists.